Better Search

Search needs to be better. Content on the web is growing exponentially along side searchers. There are 2 main forms of search we all use; looking for something on the entire web, and looking for something on a specific site. I'm not convinced the best experience for these is still clicking into a form field and typing a keyword. Lots of sites feel the same way and have been exploring new forms of search. I'd be interested to see  the examples below adapted for use on sites focused towards online sales.

The new Myspace.com

One approach taken by Myspace is to remove the need of a  form field all-together. At any point on the site you can just start typing. As you type your screen is populated with results. This would work incredibly well with online stores as one search usually inspires the next. Just-start-typing.

The Changelog Podcast

Another great example of better search can be found at the new Changelog site. I love that the design uses topical links in the header—a place you would normally find traditional navigation. This is great because users don't have to change or learn any behavior to find what they are looking for.

We can keep the search bar, but should come up with additional ways to search for content.

Dynamic Layer Styles with CS6

Layer Styles on Folders

One of my favorite new features in CS6 is the ability to apply layer styles to folders. In the past layer styles only worked on individual layers. This enables you to apply layer styles on a layer, then globally on all the layers within a folder. Technically you could keep grouping folders into new folders and applying layer styles forever and ever.  

In the simple example bellow you'll see how I  applied this technique to an interface icon. The result yielding rich shadows and shading that are still editable–much less manual work.

Use Cases

This is also great for web design. A web page typically has several items with the same styling; buttons, headings, icons, etc… These web elements can all be grouped in a folder and have their styles changed globally all at once. There are some amazing possibilities here. I look forward to more experimentation.

Design As Food Pt I: Users That Don't Have Taste

It's interesting to think about how different creative disciplines are inter-related. Strangely enough, the Food Network has become a major source of inspiration for me. With the potential to engage all 5 senses at once, culinary is an incredible and demanding art form. Several principles in fine cuisine apply to design. I intend to write about some of these similarities. 

Failure

On a cooking show called The F Word, host Chef Gordon Ramsay challenges an untrained home cook to a dessert-off. The winner gets to have their dessert featured on the menu that night. Shockingly, He rarely wins! Considering Chef Ramsay is one of the most decorated on the planet, you have to ask how this happens—an amateur beating a master.

Consider Your Audience

The problem was the judges were also untrained and had no taste for fine foods. Gordon cooked a dish for a food connoisseur… not a typical consumer. Given the option a user will always go for the sugary fat stuff, not a light well balanced treat. 

In design we can fall into the same trap. Most of the time I design something how I want it, which usually isn't  good considering I'm rarely the target user. Drew Wilson often talks about the ease inherited when creating a product with you yourself as the target audience. So we are left with a few big questions; how do you evolve design without alienating users, and how do you find the line of forcefully telling users what is best for them? I suppose data resolves all things.

Taste & Inspiration

In a recent episode of The F Word, Chef Ramsay describes the purpose of his luxurious lifestyle. The man is constantly taking trips all over the world to try new foods and experience unique cuisine. His reasoning being, if you don't taste good food how can you cook it?

I love that! Taste is what separates a good designer from a great one. Immersing yourself in good design inspiration is so key. In a recent interview Ryan Singer was asked what he saw startups doing wrong. He replied that he only follows startups that were doing things right. As elitist as that sounds I think its good to only give your time and attention towards the things you aspire to be creating. If you don't taste good design, you can't create it.

When Design Connects

This is my first blog post! A few short years into the design game I feel a need to start cataloging my experiences. Mostly as a personal archive of happenings, but also to grow in the spaces of writing and communication. Not to mention creating blog illustrations is just plain fun!

Purpose

I’m going to start posting about my experience in the design realm. These posts won’t be profound, just thoughts about what I see, what I’m learning, what I've learned, what I love, what I hate, what’s up and what’s down. Hope you enjoy or don’t enjoy, just nothing in between.

I recently heard a great definition of design by Ryan Singer. He said (good) design is taking a series of inter-related things and connecting them in such a way that they don't contradict one another. I Love that and intend to use this blog as a means of connecting inter-related things.

Connections

These connections are so vital because as we connect things within a product we know it's future users will be able to easily make those connections. In a sense the product is becoming more intuitive for them because our brains have done all the heavy lifting. 

Onward.